MR Poovamma faces suspension for doping; set to miss major events

The national Anti-Doping Appeal Panel (ADAP) has sentenced Indian quarter-miler MR Poovamma to a two-year suspension for failing a drug test in February 2021, according to a press statement on the Olympics website.

MR Poovamma had tested positive for methylhexaneamine during the Indian Grand Prix 1 last year. She now faces a two-year ban and is set to miss two significant tournaments.

The ADAP overturned a three-month suspension given to her by a disciplinary panel of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

She had been an integral part of the women's 4x400m relay team for close to a decade and helped the country win gold medals at the Asian Games in 2014 and 2018. The quarter-miler also won multiple team and individual medals at the Asian Championships, including a gold in women's 4x400m in 2013.

Poovamma, a 400m specialist from Karnataka, had tested positive for methylhexaneamine, a simulant prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in an in-competition test at the Indian Grand Prix 1 in Patiala on February 18 last year.

Methylhexaneamine was added to WADA's prohibited list of drugs in 2009.

The Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel suspended Poovamma for three months on June 16 but NADA challenged the decision, following which ADAP handed her a two-year suspension.

The sanction means MR Poovamma will miss next year's Asian Games, world athletics championships and Asian championships.

All the results of MR Poovamma since the time of testing will be disqualified and she would be stripped of all her medals and accolades earned during that period.

Since the day of her sample collection, MR Poovamma had won gold medals at the Indian Grand Prix 2 and 3 and the Federation Cup last year. She won silvers at this year's Indian Grand Prix 1 and 2, followed by another silver medal in the Federation Cup in April.

All her results since February 18, 2021, will now be null and void.

( With inputs from ANI )

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